A brief introduction to the נִפְעַל stem in Biblical Hebrew.

1. Biblical Hebrew
Getting to Know ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Verbs
by Chris Heard

2. Table of Contents
Abbreviations .............................. 3
Getting Ready .............................. 4
Using ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Verbs ..................... 10
The Basic Patterns .................... 14
Recognizing ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Verbs .......... 16
Credits ........................................ 39

3. Abbreviations
1, 2, 3 indicate grammatical person
m, f, c indicate grammatical gender
s, p indicate grammatical number
R1, R2, R3 indicate root letters
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4. Getting Ready
Before we start getting to
know the ‫ ,נ&פְעַל בִּנ+י)ן‬let’s run
a few preflight checks.
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5. Do you remember how a Hebrew
verb changes to form the various
combinations of person, gender,
and number?
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6. Do you remember the spelling
change that happens when you
form a ‫ /ל‬imperfect from a root
where R1 is ‫?נ‬
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7. If you answered “yes” to
those questions, you’re
ready for the ‫!נ&פְעַל בִּנ+י)ן‬
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8. Remember that certain patterns
can create predictable variations.
This slideshow focuses on core
patterns. It does not illustrate every
possible variation.
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9. Furthermore, this slideshow
is intended to supplement,
not replace, classroom
instruction and practice.
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10. Using ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Verbs
The ‫ נ&פְעַל‬is the fourth most
frequently used ‫ בִּנ+י)ן‬in the 0‫.תַּנ2״‬
The 0‫ תַּנ2״‬contains over 4,000
instances of verbs in ‫.נ&פְעַל‬
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11. Verbs in ‫ נ&פְעַל‬are normally
intransitive (they don’t take direct
objects). They describe something
that happens to the subject.
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12. As such, ‫ נ&פְעַל‬verbs are quite
often passive, as in “he was
affected,” or reflexive, as in
“she affected herself.”
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13. However, there also some ‫נ&פְעַל‬
verbs that come across as active
but intransitive in English, such
as ‫“( נ&שְׁבַע‬he swore”) or ‫“( נ&בָּא‬he
prophesied”).
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14. The Basic Patterns
Memorize the following basic
patterns first, and then we’ll
go through the specifics.
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15. ‫נ&מְלַט‬ He escaped (3ms perfect)
‫י&מָּלֵט‬ He will escape (3ms imperfect)
‫הִמָּלֵט‬ Escape! (ms imperative)
‫הִמָּלֵט‬ To escape (infinitive)
‫נ&מְלָט‬ Escaping (ms participle)
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16. Recognizing ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Verbs
You can tell from the name
“‫ ”נ&פְעַל‬that the most noticeable
sign of this ‫ בִּנ+י)ן‬is a prefixed –&‫.נ‬
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17. As you saw in the basic patterns,
that –&‫ נ‬is very easy to recognize
in the perfect and participle.
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18. However, you also saw that the –&‫נ‬
undergoes aphaeresis (disappears)
in the imperfect, imperative, and
infinitive. Fortunately, the “missing”
–&‫ נ‬leaves behind a distinctive ‫.דָּגֵשׁ‬
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19. Recognizing the ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Perfect
If you see a verb with a
perfect suffix and a –&‫נ‬
prefix, it’s probably a
‫ נ&פְעַל‬perfect.
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20. ‫נ&שְׁבַּע‬
The suffix ‫נ&פְל ְג ָ ה‬ The prefix
indicates –&‫ נ‬indicates
a perfect. ‫נ&שְׁבַּעְתִּי‬ a ‫.נ&פְעַל‬
‫נ&שְׁאַ?תֶּם‬
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21. Alert! The 3ms ‫ נ&פְעַל‬perfect and the
1cp ‫ /ל‬imperfect can look very similar.
Use R2’s vowel to tell the difference:
‫טל‬B&‫נ‬
ַ 3ms ‫ נ&פְעַל‬perfect
‫טל‬B&‫נ‬
ֹ 1cp ‫ /ל‬imperfect
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22. Recognizing the ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Imperfect
If a verb has an imperfect
prefix, check R1 for a ‫דָּגֵשׁ‬
and a ‫מֵץ‬E. If you see those,
you have a ‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperfect.
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23. ‫י&בצֵר‬
ָּ
The affixes ‫תִּקבֵר‬ָּ The ‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬and
indicate an ‫מֵץ‬E indicate
imperfect. ‫ תִּשׁאַ?נ)ה‬a ‫.נ&פְעַל‬
ָּ
‫דוּ‬J‫י& פ‬ ָּ
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24. The ‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperfect’s
characteristic ‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬is the
trace of the –&‫ נ‬prefix, which
has undergone aphaeresis
(as often happens with ‫.)נ‬
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25. Recognizing the ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Imperative
If a verb starts with –ִ‫ ה‬but
otherwise looks like a 2fs, 2mp,
or 2fp ‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperfect, it’s a
‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperative with the same
gender and number.
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26. If a verb starts with –ִ‫ ה‬but
otherwise looks like a 2ms
‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperfect, it’s either an
ms ‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperative or a ‫נ&פְעַל‬
infinitive. You’ll have to tell
the difference contextually.
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27. Remember the pattern: –ִ‫ ה‬before
an R1 with a ‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬and ‫מֵץ‬E.
‫הִקטֵל‬
ָּ
‫הִמצֵא‬ָּ
‫חִנ צֵל‬ ָּ
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28. Alert! The ‫ הִפְעִיל‬perfect also starts
with a prefixed ִ‫ .ה‬Use the ‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬and
‫מֵץ‬E to tell these forms apart.
‫הִקטֵל‬
ָּ ms ‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperative
‫ט ל‬Bִ‫ה‬
‫ ִי‬ 3ms ‫ הִפְעִיל‬perfect
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29. Recognizing the ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Infinitives
The ‫ נ&פְעַל‬infinitive* looks just
like the ms ‫ נ&פְעַל‬imperative,
unless R3 is ‫.ה‬
* Or “infinitive construct.”
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30. ‫הִקטֵל‬ ָּ ms imperative
‫הִקטֵל‬ ָּ infinitive
‫ה‬N‫הִבנ‬
ָּ ms imperative
‫הִבנוֹת‬ ָּ infinitive
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31. The ‫ נ&פְעַל‬adverbial infinitive* has two
versions. One starts with –&‫ נ‬and
strongly resembles the 3ms perfect.
The other starts with –ִ‫ ה‬plus ‫ ,דָּגֵשׁ‬and
strongly resembles the 3ms imperfect.
* Or “infinitive absolute.”
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32. Typically, the R2 in a ‫ נ&פְעַל‬adverbial
infinitive takes a ‫:*חוֹלֶם‬
Strong R1 Guttural R1
ֹ ְ
‫נ&קטל‬ ‫נ2עזב‬
ֲֹ
‫הִקטל‬
ֹ ָּ
‫הֵעזב‬
ָֹ
* Often a ‫.חוֹלֶם מָלֵא‬
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33. In practice, however, some ‫נ&פְעַל‬
adverbial infinitives in the 0‫תַּנ2״‬
are vocalized exactly like the
infinitive, with R2 receiving a ‫י‬Jֵ‫.צ‬
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34. Since only 37 ‫ נ&פְעַל‬adverbial
infinitives appear in the entire
0‫ ,תַּנ2״‬you will encounter very
few difficulties with them.
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35. Recognizing the ‫ נ&פְעַל‬Participle
The ms ‫ נ&פְעַל‬participle looks like the
3ms ‫ נ&פְעַל‬perfect, except that R2 takes a
‫מֵץ‬E (instead of ‫ח‬S‫ )פַּת‬in the participle.
‫טל‬B&‫נ‬
ַ 3ms perfect
‫טל‬B&‫נ‬
ָ ms participle 35

36. The mp, fs, and fp
participles are inflected
just like adjectives.
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37. Summary
‫טל‬B&‫נ‬
ַ 3ms perfect (prefix, R2’s ‫ח‬S‫)פַּת‬
‫י&קטֵל‬ָּ 3ms imperfect (R1’s ‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬and ‫מֵץ‬E)
‫הִקטֵל‬ ָּ ms imperative (prefixed ‫ ,ה‬R1’s
‫ דָּגֵשׁ‬and ‫מֵץ‬E) or infinitive
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38. ‫טל‬B&‫נ‬
ֹ adverbial inf. (prefix, R2’s ‫)חוֹלֶם‬
‫הִקטל‬
ֹ ָּ
‫טל‬B &‫נ‬
ָ ms participle (prefix, R2’s ‫מֵץ‬E)
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39. Credits
Dead Sea photo by Wikimedia Commons
contributor Xta11. Used under a CC-SA
license.
All other content by Dr. Chris Heard,
Associate Professor of Religion, Pepperdine
University. Released under a CC-BY license.
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